Music students, Gold Company snag more awards

For the 12th straight year, Western Michigan University music
students have racked up multiple awards in Down Beat magazine's
annual Student Awards Competition.

And in a related bit of news, Gold Company, the University's
vocal jazz ensemble, continues to win accolades from a jazz music
journal for its releases, this time for its most recent compact
disc "25," named in honor of the group's 25th anniversary.

WMU students tallied seven Down Beat awards this year, while
Dr. Thomas Knific, chairperson of WMU's Jazz Studies Program,
was given an Achievement Award for Jazz Education. The awards
are part of a special section in the June issue of Down Beat
set to hit newsstands within the coming week.

"This is the second greatest number of student awards
for any institution in North America this year," Knific
says. "For the past decade, we remain in the top three schools
for award winners."

In an added twist, Knific's 11th-grade son's group, Nexus,
which he coaches in the family's living room, is the first area
noncollegiate group to win an award.

As a Blue Chip recipient, "25" is singled out as
among one of the best eight recordings from a university campus
or institute in 2003. Gold Company is one of two vocal jazz ensembles
so honored.

Other Blue Chip winners include the University of North Texas'
One O'Clock Lab Band, the University of Miami Concert Jazz Band,
and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra. According to Wong,
the selected recordings "offer model references in support
of the resource base of jazz studies programs."